Many businesses rely on machinery. When that machinery fails, it must be quickly replaced or repaired to maximize the profits of the business. Locating a vendor that can provide the needed repair service, provide a replacement machine, and/or provide a needed replacement part can be burdensome.
Currently, businesses with equipment in need of repair rely on telephone directories and/or Internet search engines to locate a vendor. However, telephone directories and existing Internet search engines suffer from certain drawbacks.
Telephone directories do not indicate which vendor currently stocks the needed equipment or parts. In addition, telephone directories do not list prices and other information needed to locate a suitable vendor. As a result, a time consuming effort is needed to call each vendor to gather this type of information.
Customers may use an Internet search engine and/or electronic mail to locate vendors. However, customers often prefer to do business with the closest vendor that can fix the problem. In addition, customers often want to receive multiple bids for a particular job, and the customer may not know how far the search must be expanded in order to find a suitable quantity of vendors. Also, customers are often reluctant to use electronic mail to contact vendors for fear of burdensome follow up calls and e-mails from the vendors. Therefore, there is a need to overcome each of these drawbacks, and there is a need to provide technological advancements to facilitate the location of vendors.